1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of collaborative computing and more particularly to instant messaging and chat systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Real time communications systems provide a substantial enhancement over more traditional, asynchronous communications systems. Electronic mail delivery systems, the prototypical asynchronous communications systems, in its time represented a giant leap forward in respect to global interpersonal communications. Prior to electronic mail, individuals primarily communicated via telephone, facsimile and post. With electronic mail, however, individuals expect near instant delivery of text, and even imagery, audio and video, without incurring the delay typical of the postal system, or the expense associated with telephony and fax technologies.
Despite the ubiquity of electronic mail, asynchronous communications systems lack several elements common in the realm of real time communications systems. In particular, the seemingly instant delivery of a message cannot be experienced in the world of electronic mail. In an real-time society, the minor latencies associated with electronic mail often cannot be suitable for the task at hand where a real-time conversation will be required in addressing a problem or performing a collaborative task. More importantly, often the feel and nature of a “conversation” as it is known to human beings only can be approximated through real time communications where the participants to a conversation feel the spontaneity of an exchange of ideas, much as is the case in a live, face-to-face conversation.
The recent rapid development of the Internet has led to advanced modes of synchronous, real-time collaboration able to fulfill the real-time communicative requirements of the modern computing participant. Using the Internet as a backbone, individuals worldwide can converge in real-time in cyberspace to share ideas, documents and images in a manner not previously possible through conventional telephony and video conferencing. To facilitate collaboration over the Internet, a substantial collection of technologies and protocols have been assembled to effectively deliver audio, video and data over the single data communications medium of the Internet. These technologies include several human-to-human collaborative environments such as instant messaging, application sharing, shared document libraries and persistent chat rooms.
While instant messaging systems ordinarily are viewed to include on two conversants, advanced uses of instant messaging systems support a multiplicity of collaborators in a single thread of conversation. In either circumstance, current instant messaging and chat systems provide for an initiator of a thread of conversation, and one or more invited participants. Advanced messaging configurations permit the initiator of the thread of conversation to fulfill the role of moderator in setting the time of the session, the participants of the session and the duration of the session in advance of initiating the thread of conversation.
Frequent users of instant messaging systems and persistent chats will attest to the confusion and disorganization that can arise when many participants engage in a thread of conversation in an instant messaging system or persistent chat. While the moderator for the thread of conversation initially can establish a topic of conversation, participants easily and often digress into one or more side conversations. Given the limited screen real estate dedicated to a chat session, following a multi-topic discussion in a single thread of conversation can be quite challenging and oftentimes, important contributions can become overlooked in consequence.